Psychosocial Predictors of Maternal Mental Health, Parenting Attitudes, and Child Behavior in Single-Parent Families.

Low-income, single mothers and their children constitute a rapidly growing population at risk for adverse health outcomes. The mental health of these women is particularly at risk. This study investigated the prevalence of maternal depressive symptoms in low-income, single mothers of 1- to 4-year-old children; identified psychosocial predictors of depressive symptoms among the women; and investigated effects of maternal psychosocial factors, depressive symptoms, and parenting attitudes on children's behavior. The sample consisted of 225 mothers recruited from health department clinics. In-home interviews were conducted to obtain data on the mothers' everyday stressors, coping strategies, social resources, depressive symptoms, and parenting attitudes, as well as the mothers' reports of the index children's behavior. The prevalence of high depressive symptoms among the women was 59.6 percent. Higher depressive symptoms were associated with greater everyday stressors, fewer social resources, and greater use of avoidance coping. Neither social resources nor coping strategies buffered the relationship between everyday stressors and depressive symptoms. Maternal depressive symptoms predicted parenting attitudes. Parenting attitudes, in turn, predicted child behavior. The results suggest that depressive symptoms are indirectly associated with mothers' reports of child behavior through their influence on parenting attitudes. (Author/ABL)